From Up On Poppy Hill
Studio Ghibli is one of the best animation studios and it continues to churn out fantastic movie after fantastic movie.
From Up On Poppy Hill is set for release on Friday and sees Goro Miyazaki return to the director's chair for the first time since Tales From Earthsea.
To celebrate the release of this film we take a look at some of the best movies Studio Ghibli have given us already; and boy were there plenty to choose from.
- Spirited Away
Spirited Away provided Studio Ghibli with its most successful film when it was released back in 2003.
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki the movie followed a ten year old girl who must save her parents when they are put under a spell.
Spirited Away is just a wonderful movie from start to finish that is bizarre, enchanting and charming all rolled in to on; not to mention visually stunning.
This move is widely regarded as one of the best animation movies of all time, and it is not hard to see why. You are just pulled into this story and you are totally seduced by the characters and the look of the film.
But it also delivers a very strong message of how adapting to new surroundings is hard, but you have to face that struggle head on.
Spirited Away went on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2002 and was also a critical and commercial smash.
- Howl's Moving Castle
Howl's Moving Castle followed in 2005 - it is my personal favourite of all the Studio Ghibli movies.
Hayao Miyazaki was back in the director's chair and created another film that was packed with beauty and vivid imagination.
Studio Ghibli are famed for putting strong female characters at the core of their stories, and Howl's Moving Castle is not different.
The film follows Sophie who is put under a spell by a spiteful witch. The only chance she has of breaking the spell is with the help of a self-indulgent young wizard. But with war looming Howl has problems of his own to contend with.
This movie is packed with themes that we can all identify with such as insecurity and not knowing our place in the world. But, like most Studio Ghibli, this movie also looks at the devastation and impact of war.
Howl's Moving Castle was a compelling story with great characters and is a visual treat.
The movie went on to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar; it lost out to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
- Grave of the Fireflies
Studio Ghibli has tackled the theme of war in many movies over the years; but none are more powerful than Grave of the Fireflies.
We many never follows the stories of soldiers, or see the font line and yet this remains one of the most powerful war movies to have ever graced the big screen.
Set during World War II the movie follows Seita and Setsuko, who are forced to survive on their own after fleeing a bombing raid.
This is an emotional experience that is so powerful that it will leave you speechless - no animation movie has ever packed a punch like this one.
This is a grim story about love, sacrifice and survival and it really will leave you with tears streaming down your face.
Yet this is a movie that is visually beautiful, the scenes with the fireflies being some of the best moments in the entire film.
- Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke was another Hayao Miyazaki triumph when it was released back in 2001; there is an epicness to it that is perhaps not present in any other Studio Ghibli films.
Princess Mononoke follows Ashitaki, a young man who is on a journey to find a cure for a Tatarigami curse. But he finds himself caught up in the middle of a war.
Once again, Studio Ghibli tackles the theme of war with this movie, as man and nature go head to head; a battle that we regularly see rage in these films.
This movie delivers a powerful message about taking care of the environment and how man and the natural world should and can live together in harmony.
Princess Mononoke is driven forward by excellent characters and relationships as well as a truly powerful and wonderful story.
Like all Studio Ghibli movies before and after it, the film also visually stunning as the beauty of nature and the ugliness and devastation of war are contrasted so wonderfully.
- My Neighbour Totoro
My Neighbour Totoro is a movie that celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary this year, and yet it a movie that has lost none of its magic.
Of all of the Studio Ghibli movies this is perhaps the most child-like; and it is precisely that what makes it such a wonderful film.
The movie follows two sisters, they have moved to the country to be closer to their sick mother, and they find themselves on an adventure with a forest spirit.
This is a magical can charming movie that captures what it is like to be a child; that wide-eyed wonder, innocence and grace.
This movie is packed with some of the most wonderful characters, the likes of Totoro and Cat-Bus have become some of Studio Ghibli’s most famous and popular, it really is a wonderful work of imagination.
Other Studio Ghibli movies not to miss are Kiki’s Delivery Service, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, Whisper of the Heart, Ponyo and Arrietty.
From Up On Poppy Hill is released 2nd August.
Tagged in Studio Ghibli